Japanese Friendship Garden

Babe and Herman Lehrer Japanese Friendship Garden

Garden Features

The TCC Japanese Friendship Garden is not only a showcase, but a bridge in its own right. It connects the students, faculty, administration and staff of the college to the larger Tacoma community, to the people of Japan, and to the Japanese-American community of the South Sound.

The garden beautifies the campus while at the same time manifesting our spirit of understanding and acceptance of cultures beyond the American mainstream.

The garden offers visitors a place to relax and reflect with an open, inviting design. Created as a "karesansui" (waterless) garden, it includes a dry waterfall arrangement anchoring the highest corner of the site, flowing through a series of step downs to a sea of white sand with a pebble beach and central island reached by stone bridges. A 12-foot-tall pagoda and several stone lanterns will remind visitors that human artifacts also have a place in nature.

Garden Facts

In 2002 the TCC President's Council on Cultural Diversity planned the creation of the Japanese Friendship Garden.

The TCC Foundation used the expertise of the Kitakyushu Greenery Association to make the garden possible.

Japanese architects Mr. Sadaaki Mizuno and Mr. Toshiyuki Yano traveled to TCC multiple times to implement the garden design.

All funds to create and construct this garden were secured by the TCC Foundation. Individuals, businesses and foundations generously donated funds, plants and labor to create this serene place.